How To Tell Saturday From Sunday

October 16, 2005|By KAREN HUNTER Karen Hunter is The Courant's reader representative. Contact her at 860-241-3902 or from outside the Hartford area at 800-524-4242, Ext. 3902, or by e-mail at readerep@courant.com.

`Saturday's News Plus Sunday's Features.'' The catchy phrase across the top of Courants found at newsstands and in newspaper boxes the past six Saturdays promised the day's news, sports reports and editorials wrapped around traditional Sunday sections, including Northeast, Travel, Home & Real Estate, Arts, Parade, TV Week and the comics.

Providing readers with Sunday sections a day early isn't a new phenomenon. The Courant has dabbled in early Sunday, or bulldog, editions to increase readership before. The twist with this recent endeavor is that the only Courant available at newsstands on Saturdays has Sunday's date on it, Saturday's news inside of it and a modified town news report. The result in my office has been questions and comments from a few confused and annoyed readers. Since the questions have continued to trickle in, it's time to try to answer them.

Why does Saturday's newspaper at newsstands have the next day's date on every page?

It's a business strategy. The Sunday date on newspapers sold at newsstands on Saturdays allows The Courant to count them as part of the Sunday circulation. Because those newspapers contain some sections traditionally published for Sundays and despite the fact that the A section, the editorial pages, the Connecticut section, the Sports section, the Business section and one of the Life sections are written with a Saturday audience in mind, the edition is considered an Early Sunday edition.

David A. Bennett, vice president in charge of circulation, pointed out the benefits to readers.

``With Early Sunday we're responding to the changing lifestyles of people whose weekends have become more hurried,'' Bennett has said, ``readers who'd like an extra day to spend with comics, NE, real estate ads and other features.''

If I go to a newsstand on Saturday or Sunday, what paper do I find and what is in it?

The Early Sunday edition is the only newspaper available at newsstands on Saturdays. At newsstands on Sundays, you should find the traditional Sunday newspaper with all the usual Sunday sections and news. A couple of readers have told me that they have mistakenly bought the Early Sunday edition on Sunday and ended up with a newspaper containing 2-day-old sports and news. That should not happen. The Early Sunday edition is supposed to be removed from stores and newspaper boxes by Sunday morning. But the distinction to look for is ``Saturday's News Plus Sunday's Features'' at the top of the front page. The traditional Sunday newspaper will instead have sports scores atop the front page.

Normally, I would buy The Courant both days. But why should I spend $1.50 for the Sunday Courant after I have already received all the features?

The traditional Sunday Courant offers up-to-date sports reports and news and there are other traditional Sunday sections that aren't offered in the Early Sunday package, including Commentary, Business, Classifieds and store fliers.

If I ask for home delivery, what paper will I get on Saturday morning?

The traditional Saturday newspaper -- without Sunday features -- is delivered to subscribers.

Does the newspaper's management know anything about conservation of paper? The Early Sunday edition provides extra papers on the weekend to discard.

The Courant does use some recycled paper. But the reader has a point.

How can this make financial sense for The Courant?

As Mark E. Aldam, senior vice president and general manager, told me, The Courant is always striving to build readership and in turn grow a greater reach for its advertisers.